Method and apparatus for detection of intermodulation products

ABSTRACT

Interference comprising a passive intermodulation (PIM) product of at least a first signal and a second signal is detected in a wireless network, by generating, on the basis of at least the first signal and the second signal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulated intermodulation product and correlating the at least one interference signal with a waveform received in the wireless system to produce data representing a correlation. The presence of an intermodulation product of at least the first signal and the second signal is detected in the interference in dependence on the data representative of the correlation.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(a) and 37 CFR 1.55to UK patent application no. 1208921.5, filed on May 21, 2012, theentire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to detection of interference dueto intermodulation products of transmitted signals in a wireless system,and more specifically, but not exclusively, to detection of PassiveIntermodulation (PIM).

BACKGROUND

Intermodulation products may be generated in a wireless system when twoor more signals are transmitted at different frequencies along a signalpath including a component having a non-linear transmissioncharacteristic; these products differ in frequency from the signals fromwhich they were generated, and may potentially cause interference toother signals. The generation of intermodulation products is becoming aproblem of increasing importance in modern wireless communicationsystems, and in particular cellular wireless systems, since the radiofrequency spectrum available has been steadily expanded as additionalbands have become available, and the pattern of allocation of uplink anddownlink bands within the available spectrum for use by various cellularsystems, such systems using GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network), UTRAN(UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) and E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access Network) radio access networks, and by variousoperators, is complex and territorially dependent. In this environment,and in particular at a cellular radio base station, it is likely thatcircumstances arise in which intermodulation products generated fromtransmitted carriers in one or more downlink bands would fall within anuplink band in which signals are received at the base station.Intermodulation generated by non-linear characteristics of activecomponents such as power amplifiers may generally be dealt with at adesign stage by appropriate frequency management and filtering, butintermodulation caused by non-linear characteristics of passivecomponents, so called passive intermodulation (PIM), may prove moredifficult to manage. Many passive components may exhibit a non-lineartransmission characteristic to some degree, for example due to an oxidelayer at a metal to metal contact, and the non-linear characteristic maydevelop with time as an ageing process of the component. Furthermore,PIM may be caused by components in the signal path between thetransmitter and the receiver that are external to the transceiverequipment and which may be outside the operator's control, such asmetallic objects on the antenna tower or other objects in the signalpath through the propagation environment, such as fences; this is knownas the “rusty bolt” effect.

Interference due to PIM may reduce the carrier to interference ratio ata receiver, which may reduce coverage by a cell significantly. As asolution to the problem of suspected interference caused by PIM in acellular radio network, the source of the PIM may be tracked down byfield engineers and a component causing the PIM may be replaced.However, it is typically difficult to distinguish the effects ofinterference due to PIM from other types of interference, such asinterference from neighbouring cells, and from other types ofdegradation of receiver performance, such as a raised noise floor.Detecting and tracking down PIM is particularly difficult if the PIM isgenerated in the propagation environment, especially if the interferencedue to PIM is an intermittent fault, for example being dependent uponweather conditions.

PIM may be conventionally detected and tracked down using test equipmentwhich generates PIM by transmitting high power sinewave test signals andwhich uses a sensitive receiver to detect the presence of PIM by tuningto frequencies at which intermodulation products of the signals may beexpected, and detecting an increase in received power when the testsignals are transmitted. However, such systems are intrusive, in thatthey involve the transmission of test signals which may disrupt thenormal operation of the wireless network, and they typically requirethat a received channel of interest, in which intermodulation productsare to be detected, should be an unoccupied channel.

Aspects of the invention address at least some of the limitations of theprior art detection systems.

SUMMARY

In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, there is a method ofdetecting interference in a wireless network, the interferencecomprising an intermodulation product of at least a first signal and asecond signal, the method comprising:

generating, on the basis of at least the first signal and the secondsignal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product;

correlating said at least one interference signal with a waveformreceived in the wireless system to produce data representing acorrelation; and

detecting the presence of an intermodulation product of at least thefirst signal and the second signal in the interference in dependence onthe data representative of the correlation.

This has an advantage that an intermodulation product may be detectedeven in cases where the received waveform comprises a received signal,such as a cellular radio signal, at a higher level than theinterference. The data representative of the correlation, such as acorrelation magnitude, may be based on a correlation that is accumulatedover time to increase the probability of detection and reduce theprobability of false alarm. The presence of a specific intermodulationproduct may be identified by correlation. Furthermore, the method hasthe advantage of being non-intrusive, that is to say the detection maybe based on the use of existing signals within the wireless network andneed not involve the transmission of test signals that may disrupt thenormal operation of the wireless network.

In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention there is apparatus fordetecting interference in a wireless network, the interferencecomprising an intermodulation product of at least a first signal and asecond signal, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

and at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code being configuredto, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

generate, on the basis of at least the first signal and the secondsignal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product;

correlate said at least one interference signal with a waveform receivedin the wireless system to produce data representing a correlation; and

detect the presence of an intermodulation product of at least the firstsignal and the second signal in the interference in dependence on thedata representative of the correlation.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe following description of preferred embodiments of the invention,which are given by way of example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a is schematic diagram illustrating an example of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating intermodulation products inthe frequency domain;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation, where the passive intermodulation isgenerated in a component external to the transmitter in embodiment ofthe invention, where the detector is a hand held device having anantenna;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation, where the passive intermodulation isgenerated in an component external to the transmitter in embodiment ofthe invention, where the detector is connected to a data link between abase station and a radio head unit;

FIG. 5 is schematic diagram showing apparatus for detection ofinterference on a single receive channel caused by passiveintermodulation in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation, where the passive intermodulation isgenerated by mixing between three signals in a component external to thetransmitter in embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 shows a mathematical expansion describing the generation ofintermodulation products by mixing between three signals due to a power(exponent) of 3 term in a non-linear transfer function.

FIG. 8 shows a mathematical expansion describing the generation ofintermodulation products by a power (exponent) of 5 term in a non-lineartransfer function.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation, where one of the signals thatgenerated the passive intermodulation is received by an antenna andpassed to the detector in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation, where the passive intermodulation isgenerated in the signal path of the transmitter in an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation in an embodiment of the invention in awireless system using MIMO transmission and reception in an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 12 is schematic diagram illustrating apparatus for detection ofinterference on a single received MIMO stream caused by passiveintermodulation between two signals each having two MIMO components inan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation in a wireless system using MIMOtransmission and reception in an embodiment of the invention, in whichthe detector is a hand held device having multiple antennas;

FIG. 14 is schematic diagram illustrating apparatus for detection ofinterference on a single received MIMO stream caused by passiveintermodulation between two signals each having two MIMO components inan embodiment of the invention, in which the MIMO components arereceived using antennas;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating detection of interferencecaused by passive intermodulation in an embodiment of the invention inwhich the detector is arranged to transmit test signals; and

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram of a method according to an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

By way of example, embodiments of the invention will now be described inthe context of detection of interference caused by passiveintermodulation (PIM) in cellular wireless networks such as GSM, 3G(UMTS) and LTE networks comprising GERAN, UTRAN and/or E-UTRAN radioaccess networks, but it will be understood that embodiments of theinvention may relate to other types of radio access network, for exampleIEEE 802.16 WiMax systems, and that embodiments of the invention are notrestricted to cellular wireless systems. Furthermore, embodiments of theinvention may also relate to detection of interference caused byintermodulation in active components.

FIG. 1 shows an example of interference to a received signal in acellular wireless network. A first downlink signal C₁ and a seconddownlink signal C₂, typically carrying payload data, are sent atbaseband from a base station modem unit 16 to a Remote Radio Head (RRH)unit 18 as sample streams on a data link such as a Common Public RadioInterface (CPRI) data link. The data link carries both uplink anddownlink CPRI data streams. The base station modem unit may be referredto as a baseband unit, and is typically, although not necessarily,mounted in a cabinet on the ground. The Remote Radio Head comprisesupconverter and downconverter units and is typically, but notnecessarily, mounted on a tower at the base station next to the antenna2 or antennas. The first and second signals C₁ and C₂ are upconverted toradio frequency and are transmitted, typically as carriers of thecellular wireless network, at frequencies f₁ 6 and f₂ 8 respectively. Inthe example shown in FIG. 1, the first and second signals impinge upon asource of passive intermodulation (PIM) 4, for example a metalliccomponent having an oxide layer between metallic parts or comprising aferromagnetic material. Intermodulation products of the first signal andthe second signal are generated due to the non-linear response of thesource of PIM 4.

FIG. 2 shows intermodulation products in the frequency domain. It can beseen that the first signal 20 at frequency f₁ and the second signal 22at frequency f₂ may produce, for example, third order products 24, 28 atfrequencies 2f₁−f₂ and 2f₂−f₁, and fifth order products 30, 32 atfrequencies 3f₁−2f₂ and 3f₂−2f₁. Other products (not shown) may also begenerated.

In the case illustrated by FIG. 2, an uplink signal, i.e. a receivedsignal C₃ 26 at frequency f₃ falls within the frequency spectrumoccupied by the low side third order intermodulation products 24. It canbe seen that there is typically an offset between the frequency of thereceived signal 26 and the centre of the frequency spectrum occupied bythe low side third order intermodulation products 24, since there istypically no reason to expect the frequencies to be equal. Theintermodulation products typically occupy a broader band than thesignals from which they are generated, and there may be more than onereceived signal falling within the spectrum occupied by theintermodulation products.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it can be seen that intermodulation productsI₃ of the first and second signals are transmitted 10 from the PIMsource 4, in this example at 2f₁−f₂. The intermodulation products I₃, inthis example, fall at least in part, within a received uplink channel atf₃ and appear as interference to a received signal C₃ that istransmitted 12 at radio frequency from, for example, a user equipment 14in communication with the base station. The received signal C₃ and theintermodulation products I₃ appearing as interference to the receivedsignal are typically downconverted to baseband in the RRH 18 and sent onthe data link to the baseband/modem unit 16.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention, in which interferencecaused by passive intermodulation is detected by a PIM detector device34, which in this example is a hand held device having an antenna.Similarly to the situation shown in FIG. 1, an interference signalcomprises an intermodulation product I₃ of at least a first signal C₁and a second signal C₂ generated in a component 4 external to thetransmitter. The PIM detector 34 receives a received waveform in achannel of interest, that may also contain a received uplink signal C₃and interference comprising the intermodulation product I₃. The PIMdetector also receives the first signal C₁ and a second signal C₂, whichin this case are transmitted from the base station antenna 2. The PIMdetector generates, on the basis of at least the first signal and thesecond signal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product. The PIM detector may select the first signal C₁and a second signal C₂ on the basis of a determination of which downlinksignal frequencies may produce intermodulation products that may fallwithin the channel of interest that carries the received waveform, basedon well known relationships between signal frequencies and thefrequencies of intermodulation products produced from those frequencies.On the basis of this determination, the appropriate first and seconddownlink signals C1 and C2 may be selected for generation of simulatedintermodulation products. The order of the product that is generated mayalso be selected on the basis of which intermodulation products would beexpected to fall in the channel of interest. The PIM detector thencorrelates the interference signal with the waveform received to producedata representing a correlation, for example a magnitude of acorrelation. The presence of an intermodulation product of at least thefirst signal and the second signal is detected in the interference independence on the data representative of the correlation, for example bycomparing the data representative of the correlation, for example themagnitude of the correlation, with a predetermined threshold. Anappropriate probability of detection and false alarm rate may beselected by selection of the predetermined threshold. An indication maybe provided that interference has been detected, on the basis of thedetecting of the presence of the intermodulation product of at least thefirst signal and the second signal, so that, for example, an operatormay be alerted to the presence of intermodulation products, so thatremedial action may be taken.

The indication may be automatically logged, or used to activate anotherapparatus such as an interference canceller that may be arranged tocombine the at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product with the received waveform in antiphase to theintermodulation product in the interference in order to reduce or cancelthe interference. The indication may indicate specifically that anintermodulation product has been detected, and may indicate, forexample, the order of the product and the signals from which it isderived. If it is determined that more than one intermodulation productmay fall in the channel of interest, each product may be generated anddetected sequentially.

By this method, intermodulation products may be detected even in caseswhere the received waveform comprises a received signal, such as acellular radio signal, which may be at a higher level than theinterference. The data representative of the correlation, such as acorrelation magnitude, may be based on a correlation that is accumulatedover time to increase the probability of detection and reduce theprobability of false alarm. The method has the advantage of beingnon-intrusive, that is to say the detection may be based on the use ofexisting signals within the wireless network and need not involve thetransmission of test signals that may disrupt the normal operation ofthe wireless network.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention, again appliedto the situation of FIG. 1, in which the PIM detector 34 is insertedinto the data link, typically the CPRI link, between a base stationmodem unit and a radio head unit. For example, the apparatus may beretro-fitted in an existing installation as an appliqué unit, bybreaking into the existing data link and connecting the apparatus inseries with the data link. In this case, the indication of detection,and also other parameters such as the amplitude, phase and delay of theintermodulation product may, for example, bey sent to the baseband unit16. They may alternatively be logged internally in the PIM detector forlater analysis, or communicated via a data connection to a networkoperations centre (NOC) or an operator. In the embodiment shown in FIG.4, the apparatus may comprise a first interface, typically a CPRIinterface, for connection to the base station modem unit and a secondinterface, also typically a CPRI interface, for connection to the radiohead unit, the first interface being arranged to receive downlink datarepresenting at least the first signal and the second interface beingarranged to receive uplink data representing at least the receivedwaveform.

FIG. 5 shows the PIM detector 34 in more detail, showing an example ofan arrangement for detection of interference to a received waveform on areceive channel caused by intermodulation products of at least the firstsignal and the second signal, the first and second signals beingdownlink signals. The first and second signals C₁ and C₂, as shown inFIG. 4, are received at baseband at the apparatus, for example from thedata link from the base station modem unit. On the basis of the firstsignal and the second signal, simulated intermodulation products aregenerated 46. In the embodiment shown, the simulated intermodulationproducts are delayed 52 by a plurality of delay values to generate aplurality of delayed interference signals comprising simulatedinterference products. In other embodiments, a plurality of delays maybe used to generate the plurality of delayed interference signals byapplying delays to one or both of the first and second signals beforesimulated intermodulation products are generated. The received waveform,which may comprise a received signal C₃ having interference comprisingintermodulation products I₃ of at least the first signal and the secondsignal is received at the PIM detector, for example from the uplink datalink at baseband as shown in FIG. 5 as C₃+I₃. Each of the delayedinterference signals is correlated with the received signal to produce adata representing a correlation 54 for each delayed interference signal.The data representing a correlation may be, for example, the magnitudeof the correlation. Then, at least one delay value is selected from theplurality of delay values in dependence on the data representative ofthe correlations; for example, the delay value may be selected thatresulted in the greatest correlation magnitude. An indication of theselected delay value and frequency may be output from the detector.Also, an indication of amplitude and phase values derived from datarepresenting the correlation may be output from the detector. In analternative implementation, the variable delay 52 may not beimplemented; for example, a fixed delay value may be set up, or a delaymay not be necessary.

The delay values from which a delay value is selected may be arranged tocover an expected range of delay values. For example, the range of delayvalues may be round trip delay values from a source of the first and/orsecond signals via a source of intermodulation products to theapparatus. The plurality of delays may have, for example, a range ofvalues greater than 100 ns, and a range values greater than 200 ns maybe advantageous. The delay values may be relative to the delay value ofa direct path from the source of the first and/or second signals to theapparatus, the direct path being used to provide samples of the firstand second signals at the apparatus. The source of the intermodulationproducts may be a source of passive intermodulation (PIM), which may bein the transmitter equipment, in the receiver equipment, or outside thetransmitter or receiver in the propagation path at a typically unknownlocation, so that a wide range of delay values may be possible.

The processing of the first signal and the second signal at baseband toproduce baseband intermodulation products may be carried out as follows.Consider, for example, generation of power (exponent) 3 intermodulationproducts of two signals, having amplitude modulation A and Brespectively, and a phase comprising carrier phase and phase modulationa and b respectively. Exponent 3 intermodulation products are given by:(A cos(a)+B cos(b))³;which may be expanded to give:¼(3A³ cos(a)+A³ cos(3a)+3A²B cos(2a−b)+3A²B cos(2a+b)+3AB²cos(a−2b)+3AB² cos(a+2b)+6AB² cos(a)+6A²B cos(b)+3B³ cos(b)+B³ cos(3b))

The terms of the expansion which are of interest, in that they may fallin an uplink receive band, are the terms 3A²B cos(2a−b), whichrepresents the lower third order product as shown in FIG. 2 as I₃ asindicated by reference numeral 24, and 3AB² cos(a−2b), which may also bewritten as 3AB² cos(2b−a), which represents the upper third orderproduct as shown as indicated in FIG. 2 by reference numeral 28. Whichof the ‘upper’ or ‘lower’ products falls in an uplink receive band willdepend upon whether the uplink band is allocated above or below thedownlink band. The mathematics above shows that the intermodulationproducts contain amplitude and phase modulation which is a function ofmodulation of the first and second signals which generated theintermodulation products, and that baseband intermodulation products maybe generated in the PIM detector from the knowledge of the amplitude andphase of the first and second signals; this information is available ina baseband representation of the first and second signals.

However, it may be necessary to frequency shift the intermodulationproducts generated at baseband to produce the simulated intermodulationproducts suitable for cancelling interference in the received signal, sothat simulated intermodulation products are aligned in frequency withthe intermodulation products in the interference to the received signal.This is because, as shown in FIG. 2, the centre frequency of theintermodulation products interfering with the received signal may notcorrespond with the centre frequency of the received uplink channel ofthe received signal, but may be offset by an offset frequency.

FIG. 5 shows frequency shifting of the baseband intermodulationproducts, as represented by mixing function 48 and offset frequencycalculation function 50. The frequency shifting comprises shifting by afrequency determined by at least a frequency of a channel in which thereceived signal is received, a frequency of the first radio frequencysignal, and a frequency of the second radio frequency signal.

There may also be a need, in some embodiments, to adjust the frequencyof the frequency shift by a correction factor, which may be acorrection, also known as a fine frequency adjustment, applied inaddition to the frequency shift determined by calculation from knowledgeof the frequency of a channel in which the received signal is received,the frequency of the first radio frequency signal, and the frequency ofthe second radio frequency signal. The frequency shifting may compriseshifting by a frequency determined by adjusting the frequency shift to aplurality of frequency shift values and selecting a frequency for thefrequency shifting shift on the basis of data representing a correlationof a delayed interference signal with the received signal for each ofthe plurality of frequency shift values. So, for example, the frequencyshift may be selected that gives the largest correlation magnitude. Inthis way, a frequency shift value may be adjusted to remove an unknowncomponent to the offset between the frequency of the channel in whichthe received signal is received and the frequency of the intermodulationproducts in the interference to the received signal. The unknowncomponent to the frequency offset may, for example, be caused if theprecise frequency relationship between frequencies used to upconvert thefirst and/or second signals and the frequency used to downconvert thereceived signal is not known.

FIG. 6 illustrates that intermodulation products may be generated in anon-linear device by the mixing of three or more signals. In FIG. 6,three carriers C1, C2 and C4, that is to say signals, are transmitted atfrequencies f1, f2, and f4 respectively. As shown, these may mixtogether in the PIM source 4 to produce third order products such asf1+f2−f4, that may fall within a receive band. Simulated intermodulationproducts may be generated by knowledge (or guessing) of the process bywhich the intermodulation products in interference to a receive signalare generated. FIG. 7 is an example of a mathematical expansion showingthe generation of intermodulation products of a first, second and thirdsignal by a power (exponent) 3 term (i.e. a ‘cubic’ term) of anon-linear device characteristic. The terms within broken lines havebeen highlighted as terms that may typically fall within a receive bandin some arrangements of cellular radio uplink and downlink frequencies.At least one interference signal may be generated comprising a simulatedintermodulation product on the basis of the first signal, the secondsignal and the third signal.

The generation of simulated intermodulation products was described inconnection with FIG. 5 as the generation of third order terms atbaseband in order to cancel intermodulation products generated by cube(exponent 3) terms in the transfer characteristic of a non-lineardevice. However, in addition to the generation of third orderintermodulation products by cube terms in a device transfer function,intermodulation products may also be generated at the frequenciesexpected for third order products, such as 2f₁−f₂ and 2f−f₁, by terms ina device transfer function of powers 5, 7, 9, and potentially by any oddpower device nonlinearities, where the power (or exponent) is at leastas great as the power of the respective term of the device transferfunction. Correspondingly, intermodulation products normally termed as‘fifth order’ can actually be generated by device nonlinearities ofpowers 5, 7, 9, . . . and all higher odd power device nonlinearities.The pattern continues in this way for all higher (odd) orderintermodulation products (i.e. ‘seventh’, ‘ninth’ etc.), which can begenerated not only by device nonlinearities of the same power, but alsoby device nonlinearities of higher odd powers. FIG. 8 shows amathematical expansion illustrating the generation of intermodulationproducts by a fifth power term in a device transfer function. The termswithin broken lines have been highlighted as terms that may typicallyfall within a receive band in some arrangements of cellular radio uplinkand downlink frequencies. In particular, the terms include cos(2a−b),and cos(a−2b), which correspond to the frequencies 2f₁−f₂ and 2f₂−f₁.Therefore, it may be seen that knowledge (or guessing) of the mechanismfor generating intermodulation products may be used to generatecorresponding simulated intermodulation products.

FIG. 9 shows the case where an antenna 40 is provided for receiving atleast the second signal, so that at least the second signal may bereceived if a downlink datastream comprising at least the second signalis not available. For example, the second signal may originate fromequipment 42 that does not share the same remote radio head 18 as thefirst signal. The second signal may be a signal used by a differentoperator from the operator of the first signal and the received signal.In one embodiment of the invention, a single antenna may be used toreceive both the first and second signals, for example in the case thatneither the first nor the second signal is available in a CPRIinterface. Alternatively, the apparatus may comprise a further antennafor receiving at least the first signal. A directional antenna may beused for receiving each of the first and second signals in the case thatthe source of the first and second signals is at a different directionwith respect to the apparatus.

The apparatus may comprise a receiver 38 arranged to receive at leastthe second signal from the antenna and to provide a basebandrepresentation of the second signal for use in generating theinterference signal comprising simulated intermodulation products, sothat a baseband representation of the second signal may be provided incases where access is not available to a data link on which the basebandrepresentation of the second signal is available. It may be that thefirst signal is available from a data link but the second signal is not.In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus may further comprise asecond receiver arranged to receive at least the first signal from theantenna and to provide a baseband representation of the first signal foruse in generating the interference signal comprising simulatedintermodulation products.

FIG. 10 shows an application in which the intermodulation productscausing interference to the received signal are generated within thetransceiver at the base station, for example passive intermodulation(PIM) in the diplexer or antenna or active intermodulation in an activecomponent. However, provided that the appropriate delays are availablefor selection for use in generating the interference signal comprisingsimulated intermodulation products, the interference may be detected aspreviously described for the case of the external PIM source.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of the invention in a wireless network usingMIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) transmission and reception. Asshown in FIG. 11, the base station transmits and receives using multipleantennas; in this example, two antennas are shown, but more than two maybe used. As shown in FIG. 11, a first signal transmitted at a frequencyf₁ may have two MIMO components C₁₁, C₁₂, each carrying a MIMO datastream, each transmitted from a different antenna. Also, a second signaltransmitted at a frequency f₂ may also have two MIMO components C₂₁,C₂₂, also each carrying a MIMO data stream, each transmitted from adifferent antenna than the other data stream. If the components of thefirst and second signals impinge upon a PIM source 4, PIM signals may begenerated from the first and second signals. However, in order tosimulate the PIM signals that are generated, it is necessary to know therelative amplitudes and phases of the components of each signal, andalso the delay of each component, at the PIM source. This is because itis the superposition i.e the vector sum, of the components of the firstsignal that interacts with the superposition of the components of thesecond signal to generate the PIM intermodulation products, shown as I₃in FIG. 11.

A received signal C₃ is received at the base station at a frequencywhich falls within the spectrum occupied by the PIM intermodulationproducts. However, as shown in FIG. 11, the received signal is receivedby two antennas at the base station, as components C₃₁ and C₃₂, andsimilarly the PIM intermodulation products are received on two antennas,as components I₃₁ and I₃₂.

FIG. 12 shows interference detection apparatus, which may be referred toas a PIM detector, for the MIMO case. Only one receive antenna channelis shown. As can be seen, the MIMO components of the first signal, C₁₁,C₁₂ obtained for example from the CPRI downstream data, may be adjustedin amplitude and phase by weight 72 and adjusted in delay 64, 66 andthen combined for input to the baseband processing function 80.Similarly, the MIMO components of the second signal, C₂₁, C₂₂ obtainedfor example from the CPRI downstream data, are adjusted in amplitude andphase by weight 74 and adjusted in delay 68, 70 and then combined forinput to the baseband processing function 80. The processing functiongenerates intermodulation products based on the combined components ofthe first signal and the combined components of the second signal. Anoffset frequency is applied to generate interference signals comprisingsimulated intermodulation products offset from baseband so as to alignin frequency the simulated intermodulation products with theinterference to the received signal, as previously described inconnection with FIG. 5. The generated interference signals arecorrelated with the received signal and a search is performed over theeach of the delay values 64, 66, 68, 70 and weights 72, 74, and, ifappropriate, frequency offsets to find the combination of parametersthat produces the greatest magnitude of correlation. The presence ofintermodulation products may be detected on the basis of datarepresentative of the correlation, such as the magnitude of thecorrelation. Indications may be provided of the amplitude, phase, delay,and frequency values that produce the greatest magnitude of correlation,since these values may be the best estimate of the respective parametervalues for the detected intermodulation products.

In FIG. 12, the adjustable delay blocks are shown for example only; itis not necessary for the delays to be applied sequentially, sincedifferent delay values may be tried in parallel, if parallel correlationchannels are provided; the two approaches are interchangeable, thechoice being a trade off between speed of selection and processing load.

The processing steps involved in the case where the first signal has atleast a first component and a second component, each component havingbeen transmitted from a different antenna, are as follows. Delayedinterference signals are generated using each of a range of delay values64 for the first component and a range of delay values 66 for the secondcomponent. For each of the delay values of the first component and foreach of the delay values for the second component, the respectivedelayed interference signal is correlated with the received signal toproduce data representative of a correlation, such as a correlationmagnitude, for each of a range of amplitude values and for each of arange of phase values for the second component, that is to say a rangeof weight values 72. An amplitude value and a phase value of the secondcomponent, a delay value of the first component, and a delay value ofthe second component is selected in dependence on a comparison of thedata representative of the correlations, for example, the valuescorresponding to the highest magnitude of the correlation may beselected. The interference signal may be generated using the selectedamplitude value and selected phase value of the second component, theselected delay value of the first component, and the selected delayvalue of the second component. The amplitude values and phase values ofthe second component may be relative values, being relative to theamplitude and phase of the first component. Data representative of thecorrelation, such as the magnitude of the correlation, corresponding tothe selected delays, amplitude and phase values may be used as the basisfor detecting the presence of intermodulation products. In addition, theselected values of delays, amplitude and phase may be output in the formof indicators, for example for use by an operator in tracking down PIM,for data logging for future analysis, or for passing to a cancellerarrangement for use in cancelling or reducing intermodulation productsby combining simulated intermodulation products in antiphase withintermodulation products in a received waveform.

The processing steps involved in the case where the first signalcomprises a further component of the first signal having beentransmitted from an antenna not used to transmit the first component ofthe first signal or the second component of the first signal, forexample a third MIMO stream, are as follows. Delayed interferencesignals are generated using, additionally to the case for two MIMOstreams, each of a range of delay values for the further component. Foreach of the plurality of delay values of the first component, for eachof the plurality of delay values for the second component, and for eachof the plurality of delay values of the further component, therespective delayed interference signal is correlated with the receivedsignal to produce data representative of a correlation, for example amagnitude of the correlation, for each of a plurality of amplitudevalues and for each of a plurality of phase values for each of thesecond and further components. An amplitude value and a phase value ofeach of the second component and the further component is selected and adelay value of the first component, a delay value of the secondcomponent and a delay value of the further component is selected independence on a comparison of the data representative of thecorrelations. Typically the parameter values corresponding to thegreatest magnitude of the correlation are selected. The interferencesignal may be generated using the selected amplitude value and theselected phase value of each of the second component and the furthercomponent and the selected delay value of the first component, theselected delay value of the second component and the selected delayvalue of the further component. Data representative of the correlation,such as the magnitude of the correlation, corresponding to the selecteddelays, amplitude and phase values may be used as the basis fordetecting the presence of intermodulation products. In addition, theselected values of delays, amplitude and phase may be output in the formof indicators, for example for use by an operator in tracking down PIM,for data logging for future analysis, or for passing to a cancellerarrangement for use in cancelling or reducing intermodulation productsby combining simulated intermodulation products in antiphase withintermodulation products in a received waveform.

The processing steps involved in the case where the second signalcomprises at least a first component of the second signal and a secondcomponent of the second signal, each of the first and second componentsof the second signal having been transmitted from a different antennafrom the antenna used to transmit the other, that is to say, forexample, the second signal has two MIMO components are as follows. Foreach of the plurality of delay values of the first component of thefirst signal, for each of the plurality of delay values for the secondcomponent of the first signal, for each of the plurality of delay valuesof the first component of the second signal, and for each of theplurality of delay values for the second component of the second signal,the respective delayed interference signal is correlated with thereceived signal to produce data representative of a correlation for eachof a plurality of amplitude values and for each of a plurality of phasevalues for each of the second component of the first signal and thesecond component of the second signal. An amplitude value and a phasevalue of the second component of the first signal and the secondcomponent of the second signal is selected and a delay value of thefirst component of the first signal, a delay value of the secondcomponent of the first signal, a delay value of the first component ofthe second signal, and a delay value of the second component of thesecond signal is selected in dependence on a comparison of the datarepresenting the correlations. The interference signal is generatedusing the selected amplitude value and the selected phase value of thesecond component of the first signal and the second component of thesecond signal and the selected delay value of the first component of thefirst signal, the selected delay value of the second component of thefirst signal, the selected delay value of the first component of thesecond signal, and the selected delay value of the second component ofthe second signal. Data representative of the correlation, such as themagnitude of the correlation, corresponding to the selected delays,amplitude and phase values may be used as the basis for detecting thepresence of intermodulation products. In addition, the selected valuesof delays, amplitude and phase may be output in the form of indicators,for example for use by an operator in tracking down PIM, for datalogging for future analysis, or for passing to a canceller arrangementfor use in cancelling or reducing intermodulation products by combiningsimulated intermodulation products in antiphase with intermodulationproducts in a received waveform.

FIG. 13 shows an alternative implementation of an embodiment of theinvention, similar to the situation in FIG. 11, except that the PIMdetector 34 is a handheld device, and the MIMO components of the firstand second signals are received using two or more antennas 94, 96. InFIG. 13, a directional antenna 98 is also shown for receiving theintermodulation products I₃. The directional antenna may have a gainthat is higher than a gain of an antenna used to receive the first orsecond signals. In alternative embodiments, the intermodulation productsneed not be received by a directional antenna; a directional antenna maybe a particular advantage when used by an operator to track down asource of PIM. As may be seen in FIG. 13, first and second MIMOcomponents C₁₁, C₁₂ of the first signal are received in a first complexscalar relationship aC₁₁+bC₁₂ at the first antenna 94 and in a secondcomplex scalar relationship cC₁₁+dC₁₂ at the second antenna 96, where a,b, c, d are complex scalars representing the different polarisationfactors and path lengths to each receive antenna from respective MIMOtransmit antennas at the base station (assuming, for simplicity,frequency flat/non-dispersive channels, and using complex basebandrepresentations of signals). As a result, the detector does not haveaccess directly to each transmitted MIMO component. However, as shown inFIG. 13, the MIMO components may be separated from the composite signalsreceived at the antennas 94, 96. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, thecomposite signals may be connected to a weighting function block 90, 92,in which, for each of frequency f₁ and f₂, each composite signal isweighted by variable weights w in the arrangement shown in FIG. 14. Theweights are controlled such that, when the weighted components arecombined, the separate MIMO components are produced. The separate MIMOcomponents may then be processed as described in connection with FIG.12. The weights of the weighting functions 90, 92 may be determined by asearch of weight values, on the basis of the data representing thecorrelation, for example searching for the highest correlation.Alternatively, the weights may be determined by use of conventionalmethods to separate the MIMO components, using pilot tones todistinguish the MIMO components. A conventional ‘Blind SourceSeparation’ (BSS) signal processing technique, such as ‘IndependentComponent Analysis’ (ICA) may also be used to separate the MIMOcomponents.

FIG. 15 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention, in which theapparatus, such as the PIM detector 34 is arranged to transmit at leastthe first signal and second signals as test signals. The first andsecond signals may be chosen as signals that would be expected toproduce intermodulation products within a channel of interest in which areceived waveform is to be received. At least the first signal may betransmitted within a band used for the transmission of payload signals,such as for example a band that may be used for transmission of LTE(Long Term Evolution) signals in an E-UTRAN radio access network. Thefirst signal may be transmitted outside part of the band used fortransmission of payload signals. So, for example, not all of thepotential LTE band may be occupied by the payload signals. It may bearranged, for example, for the payload signals to occupy a reduced rangeof frequencies within the band in dependence on a determination of atraffic load level of payload signals, so that the test signals may betransmitted, say, at periods when the band is lightly used, so that lessbandwidth is required for the band, which may be occupied by a reducedbandwidth LTE carrier. The first and second signals may be transmittedin dependence on the determination of a traffic load level of payloadsignals, so for example, the first and second signals may only betransmitted when there is a low traffic load level. The first and secondsignals, as shown in FIG. 14, may be modulated with a code, so that thePIM generated may be recognised as being generated from the first andsecond signals.

The generation of test signals may be available as an option for a PIMdetector, which would be useful in tracking down PIM since PIM could beexcited in a particular target device.

As an alternative to the embodiment of FIG. 15, the test signals C₁ andC₂ may be generated in the PIM detector and connected to a transmissiontower using coaxial cables, so that the test signals may be transmittedfrom the base station antenna or antennas. Also, the received waveformmay be received from base station antennas via coaxial cable. As afurther variation, the test signals may be generated in the PIM detector34 in an arrangement as shown in FIG. 4, where the PIM detector isinstalled in a data link between a baseband unit and a radio head unithaving an upconverter and downconverter. In this case, the test signalsC₁ and C₂ would be generated in the PIM detector instead of beingreceived from the baseband unit 16, and the generated test signals wouldbe transmitted on the data link to the radio head unit 18 fortransmission.

FIG. 16 shows a flow diagram of a method according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

In various embodiments of the invention, the delay value that isselected in dependence on data representative of the correlation may bea delay value that is applied to simulated intermodulation productsgenerated from the first and second signal to form the delayedinterference signals, that is to say the delay is applied after thesimulated intermodulation products are generated. Alternatively, thedelay value that is selected in dependence on data representative of thecorrelation may be a delay value that is a value of a delay applied tothe first signal to form the delayed interference signals, and/or thedelay value may be a value of a delay applied to the second signal toform the delayed interference signals. The delay value applied to thefirst signal may be different from the delay value applied to the secondsignal, for example where the delay from the first and second signals tothe source of intermodulation products is different, for example wherethe first and second signals are transmitted from different antennas andthe delay of each to an external PIM source is different.

In embodiments of the invention, an equaliser may be substituted forsome or all of the variable delay blocks, and the settings of theequaliser may be selected on the basis of the data representative of thecorrelations for trial values of the equaliser settings, in a similarmanner to the selection of the at least one delay value. An equalisermay have a variation of amplitude, phase and group delay across its passband in a controllable fashion, and may be used to correct for adistortion to the first or second signal in the transmission path to thesource of intermodulation products, or for distortion to theinterference signal.

So, embodiments of the invention have been described in which a searchis carried out for delay, frequency and/or amplitude values, for exampleby varying the values applied by blocks 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78,83, 84 shown in FIG. 12, and choosing the combination of values of thevarious parameters in dependence on data representing the correlationvalue, typically the combination that produces the greatest magnitude.Similarly, referring to FIG. 5, a search is carried out for the valuesof delay in functional block 52, and/or frequency offset in block 50 independence on data representing the correlation, typically selecting thecombination of values that maximises the correlation. The presence of acorrelation peak indicates that intermodulation products have beendetected, and detection of intermodulation products may be may beindicated if the data representing the correlation exceeds apredetermined threshold. The selected combination of simulatedintermodulation products with the received signal in order to cancelintermodulation products may be dependent on the detection ofintermodulation products.

The process of searching over multiple hypotheses about signal delays,amplitudes and phases may be arranged as a series of successive stages.For example, the search process may be split into the followingsub-processes. Initially, a coarse acquisition process may be employed,whereby approximate phases, amplitudes, delays and/or frequencies arefound by searching over many possibilities with relatively large stepsand a relatively large search range. Following this, a finer acquisitionprocess may be employed, using finer steps, focussed more tightly aroundthe values found by the coarse acquisition process. Then, a trackingmode may be employed, whereby the best solution is updated slowly intime, using an ‘early-late-gate’ approach, that is to say testingalternative hypothesis either side of the current best hypothesis, totrack changes in parameters. This may reduce processor loading incomparison with the coarse and fine acquisition phases.

As has been described, for example in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8, inembodiments of the invention, knowledge of the mathematics describinghow the PIM is originally generated in the PIM source nonlinearity maybe used to generate a local replica of the PIM, that is to say simulatedintermodulation products, which is used to correlate with the actual PIMin the received waveform and to detect the PIM on the basis of, forexample, the magnitude of the correlation. The mathematics shows thatthe PIM signal is a deterministic function of the input signals, i.e.downlink transmitted signals, and is independent (apart from a frequencyshift) of the frequency separation between those input signals. Fordifferent PIM-generating sources, the form of signal from each exponentof nonlinearity is the same, apart from some arbitrary amplitude/phasescaling, if the relative delays between different PIM sources are smallcompared to the correlation time of the signal. However, the relativepowers of the different exponent contributions might be different. Asearch may be carried out over different relative powers, and acombination of values may be selected that produces the greatestmagnitude of correlation between the simulated intermodulation productsand the intermodulation products in interference to the receivedwaveform. In an embodiment of the invention, the method of PIM detectionconsists of the following steps. Firstly, generating a local replica ofthe PIM based on knowledge of the transmitted signal. Secondly,determining the exact phase, amplitude, delay and/or frequency offset ofthe PIM as it appears in the receive path by cross-correlating theaggregate uplink signal with the local replica. Thirdly, comparing datarepresentative of the cross-correlation with a predetermined thresholdto detect the presence of PIM.

In the case of MIMO transmissions, the processing is somewhat morecomplex, as described earlier. In the MIMO case, it may not be possibleto determine the local replica of the PIM signal independently of thecross-correlation process. In the MIMO case both of these steps may beembedded within a loop which tests many different candidate localreplicas, one for each hypothesis of the relative amplitude, phase anddelay of the multiple MIMO transmissions as they arrive at the PIMsource. The winning hypothesis is the one, for example, giving thehighest-energy cross-correlation, that is to say the data representingthe correlation indicates the highest magnitude, in the second step.This represents the hypothesis which generates a local replica which ismost like the actual received PIM. Once this best local replica has beendetermined, and its phase, amplitude, delay and frequency offset havealso been found, the third step may be performed, and the PIM may bedetected on the basis of the magnitude of the greatest correlation.

FIG. 12 illustrates only a single-branch uplink receiver, operating on asingle MIMO uplink data stream. However, a cellular base stationtypically has multiple uplink receive branches, typically having atleast a main and a diversity receiver branch in each sector. A multiplebranch receiver may be implemented by duplicating the functional blocksshown in FIG. 12. However, some of the processing for one branch may becommon to the other, and a more efficient implementation may be achievedby sharing some functional blocks between MIMO data streams, that is tosay receive channels, or branches, from respective MIMO antennas. Forexample, the determination of the relative amplitudes and phases of theMIMO transmit branches, as they impinge on the PIM source may be sharedbetween MIMO receive branches, so that the winning hypothesis on onereceive branch may be applied to another branch. Alternatively, eachhypothesis, that is to say combination of trial phase and amplitude, maybe tested in parallel on both receive branches, and metrics for eachreceive branch may be combined for each hypothesis. The differenthypotheses may then be ranked, for example on the basis of correlationmagnitude between the simulated intermodulation products and theintermodulation products in the received waveform. This may make thebest use of the available information. Other receive parameters whichmay be estimated in this combined fashion include delay and frequencyoffset, which might be common across the multiple receive branches,particularly if the receiver filters are well matched, or calibrated,for delay and if local oscillators are shared between branches, so thatfrequency offset would be expected to be the same between branches.

The above processing over multiple receive branches may yieldinformation as to whether any PIM interference is generated internallyto the RF subsystem or externally in the environment. For example, ifthe winning hypothesis about the relative amplitude and phases of twoMIMO transmissions is the same on both receive branches, and eachtransmit branch makes a significant contribution to the overall PIMsignal, then this may indicate that the PIM source is located in theexternal environment, since there are significant contributions fromboth transmit branches.

Embodiments of the invention and advantages are described as follows.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises providing anindication, on the basis of the detecting of the presence of theintermodulation product of at least the first signal and the secondsignal, that interference has been detected.

This has an advantage that an operator may be alerted to the presence ofintermodulation products, so that remedial action may be taken. Theindication may be automatically logged, or used to activate anotherapparatus such as an interference canceller that may be arranged tocombine the at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product with the received waveform in antiphase to theintermodulation product in the interference in order to reduce or cancelthe interference.

In an embodiment of the invention, detecting the presence of theintermodulation product comprises comparing the data representative ofthe correlation with a predetermined threshold. This has the advantagethat an appropriate probability of detection and false alarm rate may beselected by selection of the predetermined threshold.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises providing anindication, on the basis of the detecting of the presence of theintermodulation product of at least the first signal and the secondsignal, that an intermodulation product has been detected. This has theadvantage that a specific intermodulation product may be detected.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises providing anindication, on the basis of the data representing a correlation, of anamplitude of the intermodulation product of at least the first signaland the second signal.

This has an advantage that an operator may be provided with theindication of the amplitude of the intermodulation product, which may beadvantageous in locating a source of the intermodulation product.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises synchronisingsaid at least one interference signal comprising the simulatedintermodulation product with the received waveform.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises generating, onthe basis of at least the first signal and the second signal, aplurality of delayed interference signals comprising simulatedintermodulation products generated using a plurality of delay values,wherein said at least one interference signal is one of the plurality ofdelayed interference signals;

correlating each of the delayed interference signals with the receivedwaveform to produce data representing a correlation for each delayedinterference signal;

selecting a delay value in dependence on a comparison of the datarepresentative of the correlations; and

detecting the presence of an intermodulation product of at least thefirst signal and the second signal in the interference in dependence onthe data representative of the correlation for the selected delay value.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises providing anindication, on the basis of the selected delay value, of a delay of thedetected intermodulation product.

In an embodiment of the invention the method comprises processing atleast the first signal and the second signal at baseband to producebaseband intermodulation products.

In an embodiment of the invention the method comprises frequencyshifting the baseband intermodulation products to produce the simulatedintermodulation products.

In an embodiment of the invention, the frequency shifting aligns thesimulated intermodulation products in frequency with the intermodulationproducts in the interference in the received waveform.

In an embodiment of the invention the frequency shifting comprisesshifting by a frequency determined by at least a frequency of a channelin which the received waveform is received, a frequency of the firstradio frequency signal, and a frequency of the second radio frequencysignal.

In an embodiment of the invention the frequency shifting comprisesshifting by a frequency determined by at least an order of anintermodulation product in the interference to the received waveform.

In an embodiment of the invention, the frequency shifting comprisesshifting by a frequency determined by:

adjusting the frequency shift to a plurality of frequency shift values;and

selecting a frequency for said frequency shifting on the basis of datarepresenting a correlation of a delayed interference signal with thereceived waveform for each of the plurality of frequency shift values.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises providing anindication, on the basis of the frequency for said frequency shifting,of a frequency of the detected intermodulation product.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises deriving atleast the first and second signals at baseband from a downlink samplestream from a base station baseband unit to a digital up-converter unitand deriving the received waveform at baseband from an uplink samplestream from a digital down-converter unit to a base station basebandunit.

In an embodiment of the invention, the uplink and downlink samplestreams are Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) data streams.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises receiving atleast the first signal from an antenna.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises receiving thesecond signal from an antenna.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises receiving thereceived waveform from an antenna.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first signal comprises at least afirst component and a second component, each component having beentransmitted from a different antenna, and the plurality of delay valuescomprises a plurality of delay values for the first component and aplurality of delay values for the second component, the methodcomprising:

for each of the plurality of delay values of the first component and foreach of the plurality of delay values for the second component,

correlating the respective delayed interference signal with the receivedwaveform to produce data representative of a correlation for each of aplurality of amplitude values and for each of a plurality of phasevalues for the second component; and

selecting an amplitude value and a phase value of the second component,a delay value of the first component, and a delay value of the secondcomponent in dependence on a comparison of the data representative ofthe correlations.

In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of amplitude values andthe plurality of phase values of the second component are relativevalues, being relative to the amplitude and phase of the firstcomponent.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first signal comprises a furthercomponent of the first signal having been transmitted from an antennanot used to transmit the first component of the first signal or thesecond component of the first signal, and the plurality of delay valuescomprises a plurality of delay values for the further component, themethod comprising:

for each of the plurality of delay values of the first component, foreach of the plurality of delay values for the second component, and foreach of the plurality of delay values of the further component,

correlating the respective delayed interference signal with the receivedsignal to produce data representative of a correlation for each of aplurality of amplitude values and for each of a plurality of phasevalues for each of the second and further components; and

selecting an amplitude value and a phase value of each of the secondcomponent and the further component and a delay value of the firstcomponent, a delay value of the second component and a delay value ofthe further component in dependence on a comparison of the datarepresentative of the correlations.

In an embodiment of the invention, the second signal comprises at leasta first component of the second signal and a second component of thesecond signal, each of the first and second components of the secondsignal having been transmitted from a different antenna from the antennaused to transmit the other, the method comprising:

for each of the plurality of delay values of the first component of thefirst signal, for each of the plurality of delay values for the secondcomponent of the first signal, for each of the plurality of delay valuesof the first component of the second signal, and for each of theplurality of delay values for the second component of the second signal,

correlating the respective delayed interference signal with the receivedsignal to produce data representative of a correlation for each of aplurality of amplitude values and for each of a plurality of phasevalues for each of the second component of the first signal and thesecond component of the second signal; and

selecting an amplitude value and a phase value of the second componentof the first signal and the second component of the second signal and adelay value of the first component of the first signal, a delay value ofthe second component of the first signal, a delay value of the firstcomponent of the second signal, and a delay value of the secondcomponent of the second signal in dependence on a comparison of the datarepresenting the correlations.

In an embodiment of the invention, each signal component is a MultipleInput Multiple Output (MIMO) stream.

In an embodiment of the invention generating at least one interferencesignal comprising a simulated intermodulation product is on the basis ofthe first signal, the second signal and a third signal.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least the first and second signalsare arranged to carry payload data.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least the first and second signalsare carriers of a cellular wireless network.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises transmitting atleast the first signal and second signals as test signals.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises transmitting thefirst signal within a band used for the transmission of payload signals.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises transmitting thefirst signal outside part of the band used for transmission of payloadsignals.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises arranging forthe payload signals to occupy a reduced range of frequencies within theband in dependence on a determination of a traffic load level of payloadsignals.

In an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises transmitting thefirst and second signals in dependence on the determination of a trafficload level of payload signals.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first and second signals aremodulated with a code.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises an interfaceto a downlink sample stream from a base station baseband unit, theinterface being arranged to provide at least the first signal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises an interfaceto an uplink sample stream from a radio frequency unit, the interfacebeing arranged to provide the received waveform.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is arranged to beconnected in series with a data link between a base station basebandunit and a radio frequency unit.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises a firstantenna for receiving at least the first signal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus further comprises asecond antenna for receiving at least the first signal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is arranged to receivefirst and second MIMO components of the first signal in a firstvectorial relationship at the first antenna and in a second vectorialrelationship at the second antenna, the apparatus being arranged tocombine components of the first signal received from the second antennawith components of the first signal received from the first antennausing a weight value, to provide the first signal to be used as basisfor the generation of the least one interference signal comprising asimulated intermodulation product.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is arranged todetermine the weight value by a search of weight values, on the basis ofthe data representing the correlation.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises a directionalantenna for receiving the received waveform arranged to have a gain thatis higher than a gain of the first antenna.

In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus is a hand held device.

In an embodiment of the invention, a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium comprises a set of computer-readable instructions storedthereon, which, when executed by a processing system, cause theprocessing system to control apparatus to carry out a method ofdetecting interference in a wireless network, the interferencecomprising an intermodulation product of at least a first signal and asecond signal, the method comprising:

generating, on the basis of at least the first signal and the secondsignal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedintermodulation product;

correlating said at least one interference signal with a waveformreceived in the wireless system to produce data representing acorrelation; and

detecting the presence of an intermodulation product of at least thefirst signal and the second signal in the interference in dependence onthe data representative of the correlation.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples ofthe invention. It is to be understood that any feature described inrelation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination withother features described, and may also be used in combination with oneor more features of any other of the embodiments, or any combination ofany other of the embodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modificationsnot described above may also be employed without departing from thescope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of detecting interference in a waveformin a wireless channel received in a wireless network by an incomingsignal receiver, the interference comprising a passive intermodulation(PIM) product of at least a first transmit signal and a second transmitsignal, the method comprising: generating, on the basis of at least thefirst transmit signal and the second transmit signal, at least oneinterference signal comprising a simulated PIM product; correlating saidat least one interference signal with the waveform in the wirelesschannel received by the incoming signal receiver to produce datarepresenting a correlation; and detecting the presence of a PIM productof at least the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal inthe interference in the waveform in the wireless channel received by theincoming signal receiver in dependence on the data representing thecorrelation.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein detecting thepresence of the PIM product comprises comparing the data representingthe correlation with a predetermined threshold.
 3. A method according toclaim 1, comprising: providing an indication, on the basis of thedetecting of the presence of the PIM product of at least the firsttransmit signal and the second transmit signal, that a PIM product hasbeen detected.
 4. A method according to claim 1, comprising: providingan indication, on the basis of the data representing a correlation, ofan amplitude of the PIM product of at least the first transmit signaland the second transmit signal.
 5. A method according to claim 1,comprising: synchronising said at least one interference signalcomprising the simulated PIM product with the received waveform.
 6. Amethod according to claim 1, comprising: generating, on the basis of atleast the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal, aplurality of delayed interference signals comprising simulated PIMproducts generated using a plurality of delay values, wherein said atleast one interference signal is one of the plurality of delayedinterference signals; correlating each of the delayed interferencesignals with the received waveform to produce data representing acorrelation for each delayed interference signal; selecting a delayvalue in dependence on a comparison of the data representing thecorrelations; and detecting the presence of a PIM product of at leastthe first transmit signal and the second transmit signal in theinterference in dependence on the data representing the correlation forthe selected delay value.
 7. A method according to claim 1, comprisingprocessing at least the first transmit signal and the second transmitsignal at baseband to produce baseband PIM products.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 7, comprising frequency shifting the baseband PIMproducts to produce the simulated PIM products, wherein said frequencyshifting aligns the simulated PIM products in frequency with the PIMproducts in the interference in the received waveform.
 9. A methodaccording to claim 8, wherein said frequency shifting comprises shiftingby a frequency determined by at least a frequency of a channel in whichthe received waveform is received, a frequency of the first radiofrequency signal, and a frequency of the second radio frequency signal.10. A method according to claim 8 wherein said frequency shiftingcomprises shifting by a frequency determined by: adjusting the frequencyshift to a plurality of frequency shift values; and selecting afrequency for said frequency shifting on the basis of data representinga correlation of a delayed interference signal with the receivedwaveform for each of the plurality of frequency shift values.
 11. Amethod according to claim 1, comprising deriving at least the first andsecond transmit signals at baseband from a downlink sample stream from abase station baseband unit to an up-converter unit and deriving thereceived waveform at baseband from an uplink sample stream from adown-converter unit to a base station baseband unit.
 12. A methodaccording to claim 1, comprising receiving at least the first transmitsignal from an antenna.
 13. A method of detecting interference in awireless network, the interference comprising an intermodulation productof at least a first signal and a second signal, the first signalcomprising at least a first component and a second component, eachcomponent having been transmitted from a different antenna, the methodcomprising: generating, on the basis of at least the first signal andthe second signal, a plurality of delayed interference signalscomprising simulated intermodulation products generated using aplurality of delay values, wherein the plurality of delay valuescomprises a plurality of delay values for the first component and aplurality of delay values for the second component; for each of theplurality of delay values of the first component and for each of theplurality of delay values for the second component, correlating therespective delayed interference signal with a waveform received in thewireless network to produce data representing a correlation for each ofa plurality of amplitude values and for each of a plurality of phasevalues for the second component; selecting an amplitude value and aphase value of the second component, a delay value of the firstcomponent, and a delay value of the second component in dependence on acomparison of the data representing the correlations; and detecting thepresence of an intermodulation product of at least the first signal andthe second signal in the interference in dependence on the datarepresenting the correlation.
 14. A method according to claim 13,wherein the first signal comprises a further component of the firstsignal having been transmitted from an antenna not used to transmit thefirst component of the first signal or the second component of the firstsignal, and the plurality of delay values comprises a plurality of delayvalues for the further component, the method comprising: for each of theplurality of delay values of the first component, for each of theplurality of delay values for the second component, and for each of theplurality of delay values of the further component, correlating therespective delayed interference signal with the received signal toproduce data representing a correlation for each of a plurality ofamplitude values and for each of a plurality of phase values for each ofthe second and further components; and selecting an amplitude value anda phase value of each of the second component and the further componentand a delay value of the first component, a delay value of the secondcomponent and a delay value of the further component in dependence on acomparison of the data representing the correlations.
 15. A methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the second signal comprises at least afirst component of the second signal and a second component of thesecond signal, each of the first and second components of the secondsignal having been transmitted from a different antenna from the antennaused to transmit the other, the method comprising: for each of theplurality of delay values of the first component of the first signal,for each of the plurality of delay values for the second component ofthe first signal, for each of the plurality of delay values of the firstcomponent of the second signal, and for each of the plurality of delayvalues for the second component of the second signal, correlating therespective delayed interference signal with the received signal toproduce data representing a correlation for each of a plurality ofamplitude values and for each of a plurality of phase values for each ofthe second component of the first signal and the second component of thesecond signal; and selecting an amplitude value and a phase value of thesecond component of the first signal and the second component of thesecond signal and a delay value of the first component of the firstsignal, a delay value of the second component of the first signal, adelay value of the first component of the second signal, and a delayvalue of the second component of the second signal in dependence on acomparison of the data representing the correlations.
 16. A methodaccording to claim 13, in which each signal component is a MultipleInput Multiple Output (MIMO) stream.
 17. A method according to claim 1,wherein at least the first and second transmit signals are carriers of acellular wireless network.
 18. A method of detecting interference in awireless network, the interference comprising an intermodulation productof at least a first signal and a second signal, the method comprising:receiving first and second MIMO components of the first signal in afirst relationship at a first antenna and in a second relationship at asecond antenna; combining the received MIMO components of the firstsignal received at the second antenna with the received MIMO componentsof the first signal received at the first antenna using at least oneweight value, to provide a first combined signal; generating, on thebasis of at least the first combined signal and the second signal, atleast one interference signal comprising a simulated intermodulationproduct; correlating said at least one interference signal with awaveform received in the wireless system to produce data representing acorrelation; and detecting the presence of an intermodulation product ofat least the first signal and the second signal in the interference independence on the data representing the correlation.
 19. Apparatus fordetecting interference in a waveform in a wireless channel received in awireless network by an incoming signal receiver, the interferencecomprising a PIM product of at least a first transmit signal and asecond transmit signal, the apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; and at least one memory including computer program code; theat least one memory and the computer program code being configured to,with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:generate, on the basis of at least the first transmit signal and thesecond transmit signal, at least one interference signal comprising asimulated PIM product; correlate said at least one interference signalwith a waveform received by the incoming signal receiver to produce datarepresenting a correlation; and detect the presence of a PIM product ofat least the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal in theinterference in dependence on the data representing the correlation. 20.A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a set ofcomputer-readable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by aprocessing system, cause the processing system to control apparatus tocarry out a method of detecting interference in a waveform in a wirelesschannel received by an incoming signal receiver in a wireless network,the interference comprising a PIM product of at least a first transmitsignal and a second transmit signal, the method comprising: generating,on the basis of at least the first transmit signal and the secondtransmit signal, at least one interference signal comprising a simulatedPIM product; correlating said at least one interference signal with thewaveform received in the wireless channel received by the incomingsignal receiver to produce data representing a correlation; anddetecting the presence of a PIM product of at least the first transmitsignal and the second transmit signal in the interference in thewaveform in the wireless channel received by the incoming signalreceiver in dependence on the data representing the correlation.